Ground Control Station (GCS) Software Engineer (R4758)

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit [](https://shield.ai/). Follow Shield AI on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai), [X](https://x.com/shieldaitech), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/shield_ai), and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@Shield_AI). **Job Description:** We’re looking for a Software Engineer to join our team developing next-generation Ground Control Station (GCS) applications for unmanned aerial systems (UAS). This role is ideal for engineers with a strong foundation in real-time, performance-sensitive software who also bring experience with modern web technologies. You’ll work on mission-critical software that bridges responsive user interfaces with robust backend systems, enabling human operators to plan, command, and monitor autonomous assets with precision and reliability. ### What you'll do: - Design, develop, and optimize ground control software that enables low-latency communication with UAVs and other autonomous platforms. - Build high-performance client and server applications that support telemetry processing, mission planning, and real-time control. - Implement responsive user interfaces with React and TypeScript for operator workflows and visualization of spatial data, sensor feeds, and mission state. - Collaborate closely with teams across autonomy, embedded systems, backend, and UX to deliver integrated, field-ready solutions. - Contribute to architectural decisions and system designs that ensure responsiveness, scalability, and fault-tolerance. - Lead development efforts on key features or subsystems, from early design through deployment and iteration. - Write high-quality, well-tested code and participate in peer design/code reviews. ### Required qualifications: - Senior: Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years of relevant experience, or Masters with 4+ years, or PhD with 2+ years. - Staff: Bachelor’s degree with 7+ years of relevant experience, or Masters with 6+ years, or PhD with 4+ years. - Senior Staff: Bachelor’s degree with 10+ years of relevant experience, or Masters with 9+ years, or PhD with 7+ years. - Demonstrated experience building real-time or performance-sensitive applications—preferably for UAVs, robotics, autonomous vehicles, or simulation environments. - Proficiency in a strongly typed programming language (e.g. C#, TypeScript, Java, C++) with exposure to lower-level systems or protocol integration. - Experience with web technologies, especially React, TypeScript/JavaScript, and Node.js. - Strong software engineering fundamentals including version control, testing, debugging, and performance profiling. - Proven ability to deliver high-quality software as part of a collaborative engineering team. - Ability to obtain security clearance. ### Preferred qualifications: - Experience with GCS software, mission planning tools, or real-time visualization platforms. - Familiarity with API-driven systems using REST or gRPC, and communication protocols like WebSocket or custom telemetry formats. - Knowledge of standards such as STANAG 4586, Cursor on Target (CoT), or MAVLink. - Familiarity with containerized environments (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) and CI/CD practices. - Exposure to distributed systems and cloud integration for telemetry data pipelines. - Understanding of security best practices in control systems and networked applications.